Shinigami Protector
by Yue-Ryo
Summary: ...Who's that girl? Where did she come from? Is this real?... A girl with hair that is half white and half blood red, with eyes just as strange, appears in Seireitei... is she there to help, or to kill... -discontinued-
1. Handicap Girl

_There is a girl who appears no older than 12, or at least in the real world she appears to be 12. Of course, this is not the real world, it's Seireitei, so this girl is much older than she looks… how old? Well, eventually you (my reader) will know…For now though, you will be told a very little of whom she is, you will learn more as time progresses, but she has many secrets…_

**The Handicap Girl**

_She's not known by many in Seireitei,_

_And yet she is known by all…_

"Amazing!" The young girl said aloud as she viewed a beautiful garden. "I never knew there was such a place…"

"O-namae wo oshie-te kudasai," a slightly cold voice was heard from behind the young girl.

"Nani?" the girl was startled at this point. "oh… Watashi no namae wa Harue Winter desu. Eigo wo hanashi-masu-ka?"

"Yea. Why?" Apparently the voice belonged to a boy who seemed to be no older then the girl, or at least no more than a year or two older.

"I don't like speaking in Japanese too much; it isn't really my best language…"

"Oh, well, where are you from?"

"Around here…"

"But, you don't have a shinigami uniform…" This comment was said by the woman with wavy orangish hair who just walked in behind the boy. "I'm Matsumoto Rangiku, by the way."

"I just realized this, but are you supposed to be at the fourth division?" The boy asked.

"Why? Also, what's your name?"

"I'm Hitsugaya Toshiro. And I ask because you're sitting in a wheelchair…"

"Oh yea… I forgot…"

"You forgot? How can you forget if you're handicap?"

"I just can, that's all. I wasn't always in this wheelchair, you know."

"How'd you become handicap, then?" Matsumoto doesn't really have boundaries to what she'll ask apparently.

"Matsumoto! You don't ask people that kind of thing!" Matsumoto doesn't have boundaries, but Hitsugaya does, I guess… "If you have time to bother people, you have time to do paperwork…"

"But Taichou…"

"What a minute…" Winter doesn't really get much news; she has been inside most of the time she has been in Seireitei… "You're a captain?!?"

"Yep, he's my Taichou; he's the worst one, though. He's too strict and…"

"MATSUMOTO! GO DO THE PAPERWORK OR YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO GET ANY SAKE FOR A MONTH! Why did I have to get you as a fukutaichou…?" Hitsugaya's mad now…

"Hai!" that threat works on Matsumoto constantly…

Matsumoto immediately runs to the office, she probably won't get all the paperwork done, though. (Now Hitsugaya and Winter are alone in the garden)

"So, did you want to know why I'm handicap? Or can you tell me where I am…?"

"Well you are… wait, you don't know where you are?"

"Well I don't go outside much so…"

"You're in my private garden…"

"What?!? I had no idea! I'm sorry for disturbing you! I would bow if I could…"

"It's okay… Do you like it?"

'His face looks much more peaceful than it did when he was yelling at Matsumoto…' Winter thought almost out loud. "It's very beautiful here…"

"That's good… Did you need help finding your way back?"

"That's right! I wasn't supposed to leave! What division is this?"

"The 10th division…"

"Oh no! I need to be at the fourth division. It's not like I can run there, though…"

"Did you want me to walk you back? I could tell them you wanted to see a different division for once, or something…"

"Really? You'd help me?"

"Sure… I was going to take a walk anyway…"

"Thank you sooo much!"

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**Japanese used in this chapter:**

O-namae wo oshie-te kudasai Tell me your name

Watashi no namae wa Harue Winter desu My name is Winter Harue

(Harue is Winter's last name so when I translated it, I put it the way you introduce yourself in America.)

Eigo wo hanashi-masu-ka? Do you speak English?

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I might make a long or short chapter next… Reviews will probably make me write more… This chapter is short, I know… Don't worry, next chapter won't have as much Japanese...  



	2. UnohanaTaichou! Why are you here?

**Disclaimer: **I don't own BLEACH or the quotes; I don't own anything but Winter…

For this chapter:

_Italicized are Winter's thoughts_

_Italicized and underlined are other people's thoughts _(They will be within the quotes)

* * *

_W__e're all in this together—by ourselves. _

_LILY TOMLIN _

_L__oneliness, my everyday life. The sweeping winds pass on the night-bell sound. _

_CHING AN_

* * *

**Unohana-Taichou! Why are you here?**

…_I should be the one asking where you were…_

Winter's POV:

"So, did you like seeing a different division for once?" The boy who was pushing my wheelchair asked while staring half at the path in front of him and half at the sky.

"Oh, yeah, your garden is really beautiful. It's amazing I never thought I would see something like that during winter…" on the other hand, winter was keeping her face down.

"Well, I mostly have winter flowers and plants in my private garden…" he said still looking in front of him.

"Really? Winter flowers are my favorite… I don't know whether it's because my name is Winter or because of something else, but I think that winter is the most beautiful season… The snow and ice are wonderful , I enjoy watching them …"

"watching them?"

"I don't get to enjoy the snow myself, but everyone else looks so happy while they play in it. It looks like it brings back their childhood memories…"

"_I didn't know she wasn't able to go into the snow…_ Is it hard?"

"what do you mean by _'is it hard'_?"

"Not being able to do many things that everyone else can…?"

_'why he is kind a sad?, does he feels bad that I can't go in the snow while he can?' _Winter thought while looking at his sad face

"It's not that bad… It's partially my fault for not being able to walk…" Hitsugaya's eyes widened when he heard that .

"How can that be your fault?"

"Well, I was idiotic during a fight…"

'_She was injured in a fight' _he thought before adding… "Then isn't it the person who injured you who's at fault…"

"Hmm…? I'm not sure anymore actually…"

"How long ago was this fight for you not to remember?" he asked again.

"A few years ago…" she answered.

"And you're still injured?"

"Whenever I move my legs too much, the wound breaks open… It isn't that bad of a wound, but I still have to stay sitting in this wheelchair until it heals…"

"If it isn't bad, then why does it break open so easily…?"

"I think it's because of the attack that hit me, I think it had a special ability to cause anyone who gets cut to have the wound break open when tampered with or moved too much…"

"Oh… Would that be the ability of a hollow or a shinigami…?"

"It's actually the ability of an extremely dangerous hollow. He actually has a name…"

"He's that famous?" Hitsugaya was surprised .

I looked at him again and said his name". it's Haunter."

"What are you doing here…?" _Wait, I know that voice, it's…_I turned my face to see Unohana who was heading to where we were.

"Unohana-Taichou! Why are you here?" I asked looking at the captain in front of me.

"I should be the one ask that. I have been looking for you all morning…"

"You were looking for me?"

"Of course, I was worried about you. What would you have done if your wound broke open?"

"Gomen-nasai, I made you worry." Winter lowered her face even more than before.

"Goshinpai-naku." (Translation: Don't worry about it.)

"Okay…" Winter finally raised her pretty face and looked at her.

"Anyway, I see there wasn't really much for me to worry about…" Unohana said smiling.

"Really? Why?" I was the one who asked this time.

"Because Hitsugaya-Taichou is with you…" Hitsugaya quickly turned his face away from the two women.

_'Wait a minute, I think Hitsugaya is blushing, but I can't tell… He's really good at hiding his emotions…'_

"Well, I better get back to my division… Hitsugaya, please help Winter back to the fourth division before it's pitch black out. Bye, Winter. Bye, Hitsugaya." In addition, Unohana left just like that…

"It's Hitsugaya-Taichou." I heard what Hitsugaya said, but I don't think Unohana did…

"Oh, I didn't finish telling you about Haunter…" Winter looked at him.

"You're right. Well, I'm listening…" Hitsugaya said as he started pushing her wheelchair again.

"He's actually part of the reason I love winter…"

"What does you liking winter have to do with a hollow?"

"Haunter isn't just any hollow… Some abilities of zanpaktous are metal; fire; poison, both liquid and gas forms; water; illusions; some even control air; others plants; and of course ice."

"What does this have to do with a hollow?" even though Hitsugaya was a genius he didn't understand that part.

"Well… Haunter can control ALL of these things using different tentacle thingies, ALL EXCEPT for ice…"

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That's it for now… Hope you review; my next chapter will be out as soon as I can write it and have someone read it… Ja ne! 

Thanks to my first reader, this is out today…


	3. Your Zanpaktou's Ability is WHAT?

**Disclaimer: **I don't own BLEACH or the quote… I only own Winter…

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"_T__o be or not to be" is __not__ the question—because you can't have one without the other! _

_ALAN WATTS_

* * *

**Your Zanpaktou's Ability Is WHAT?!?**

…_you didn't know?…_

"Haunter can control ALL of these things using different tentacle thingies, ALL EXCEPT for ice…" the girl stated in a serious manner.

"So only ice… Interesting…" The white haired boy mulled it over for a few seconds… "Wait, ICE?!?!"

"Yea… I just said that…" Winter said somewhat sarcastically, "boy, are you slow…"

"I'm not slow, I happen to be known as…" Hitsugaya was cut off by a certain voice.

"Shiro-chan!"

Winter started to giggle at this, Hinamori just had perfect timing with her nickname calling…

"Shiro-chan, how are you?" the Kidou expert said out of breath.

"I TOLD YOU NOT TO CALL ME THAT!!!! IT'S HITSUGAYA-TAICHOU!!!!" the silver haired boy yelled.

"But Shiro-chan… Wait, who's this?" Hinamori asked, pointing to the handicap girl.

"Harue Winter desu," Winter said as she had a how-do-you-do smile on her face, hiding her amusement with the new found nickname of Hitsugaya.

"Oh, well I'm Hinamori Momo," the girl with the bun added, "So, Harue-san…"

"Call me Winter," Winter said with a genuine let's-be-friends type of smile on her face.

"Ok, Winter-chan it is then," Hinamori was happy to get another friend, especially since Renji and Kira were often really busy, and Hitsugaya was even busier than them. "Why are you being pushed in a wheelchair by Shiro-chan?"

"Great! Now you're turning into another Matsumoto! Don't ask that kind of think Bed-Wetter Momo!" The snow-lover said.

"Shiro-chan, don't call me that in front of someone I just met, it might make them think I'm too immature…" Hinamori complained.

"Don't worry; I won't hold it against you. I mean, I don't really care about that type of thing…" the blonde reassured.

"That's good…" Hinamori sighed in relief.

As the three were talking and Hinamori was getting to know Winter better, a dark onyx butterfly was flying about. If you looked at it quickly you would swear it was black, but it isn't quite a deep, charcoal black. No, it has color, and if you were to focus on it for an hour you would still be amazed. Unfortunately, these types of butterflies, though they are beautiful, never stay still for long and are constantly working. They're known as Hell Butterflies and this particular one was sent for the fifth division fukutaichou.

"Gomen, I have to go," the kidou user waved as she ran off following the semi-black butterfly.

"Well… What'd ya wanna talk 'bout?" Winter said without caring that she had made many grammatical errors in her last sentence.

"Oh yea, I was going to tell you why I was surprised that it was only ice that Haunter can't use."

"Well…?"

"Well, it's because I'm known to have the most powerful ice zanpaktou," the boy genius said as if it were no big deal.

"What?!?! Why didn't you tell me?"

"You didn't know…?"

* * *

There… Sorry for the late update & the extremely short chapter… and thanks to my reviewers so far, keep reviewing!

Ja ne!


	4. Hollows Too Powerful, Too Stupid

Winter: The writer of this fic has asked me to announce that she does not take any credit for the anime/manga BLEACH.

* * *

**Hollows… Too powerful, Too Stupid**

…_Who are you?..._

* * *

**-a few hours later, back at the fourth division-**

'Who would've thought that he has an ice ability zanpaktou…?' The blonde thought. "This feeling… It means there's a…"

Suddenly, out of no where, the girl was cut off in her thoughts and brought back to the real world when a loud screech was heard.

Many people fell to their knees and held their ears, thinking that they were bleeding on the inside. It was such a high pitched shriek that many high ranking shinigami had to cover their ears, even most of the fukutaichous… and a few Taichous…

Winter, however, didn't cover her ears; she would recognize that sound anywhere. It was a hollow. She decided to listen to figure out which direction it was, but instead of hearing a hollow, she heard something that's much more terrifying to her, the scream of the hollow's victim…

She realized that if she didn't do something, there would be a death without the other person having a chance, she had to act fast.

When the sound of the screech had reached the tenth division, Hitsugaya had run straight over to the fourth division. He saw all of the shinigami on the floor and even Unohana-Taichou was on her knees holding her ears, same as what Matsumoto had done back at the tenth division.

As he stood looking into the fourth division medical branch from the outside, he saw something unexpected, through the window, he spotted Winter… running, her expression was as if she were trying to save someone else's life, not her own. As she kept running, she went behind a blind spot from Hitsugaya's view, but when she came back into view through the window it was… It wasn't her…

From a small glimpse, Hitsugaya could tell that she had half white hair and half blood red; he couldn't make out her eyes though, because she was moving far too quickly, and her outfit was covered in what appeared to be blood.

As the girl came to the room the screams were coming from, she saw who was being attacked, it was Hinamori. She was knocked out on the floor and the hollow was about to feast on her innocent soul, when the girl with the strange hair jumped from the doorway and in-between the hollow and the unconscious Hinamori.

Hitsugaya had come to the doorway and saw that this girl was risking her life for his childhood friend. Who was she? He'd never seen her before now. Everything about her was strange, her hair, her clothes, even her weapons… She actually managed to stop a full on attack from a hollow using a long piece of cloth she had tied from her wrist.

As she attacked the hollow, she prepared the cloth on her right wrist and brought it down upon the head of the hollow in a whip-like manner. There was something different about her attack, though. Instead of the hollow turning into bits of particles, it fell to the ground and splattered blood all over the strange girl, leaving some on her face. It lay there, apparently dead, but she brought up both clothes and hit the body with both at the same time, only after that did it dissolve…

The blood that had been on the floor was gone, but the blood on the girl's face remained. She turned to Hitsugaya and he saw her eyes; one was white, the other blood red just like her hair…

"W-who are you?" Hitsugaya said, partially frightened by they way she seemed to have no mercy.

* * *

I finally introduced the Shinigami Protector… well, here's a message from the Shinigami Protector…

"Review or your next… I know how to come to the human world…"

Okay… that kinda scares me… Please review so that I don't have fewer readers… alive… Sorry this was short…

Ja!


	5. Blood Thirsty and

First off, it's been a long time, huh? I put a warning in that sneak peak about that... well, here you go: **  
**

**Disclaimer:**I don't own BLEACH or the quotes; I don't own anything but Winter…

* * *

_T__he mind that is free from itself—why should it look within? This introspection taught by Buddha only increases the obstruction. Things are originally one; why then should we endeavor to untie them? _

_SAIKONTAN_

* * *

**Blood Thirsty and… ?**

As she faced the young, petrified taichou, he worried about himself and Hinamori…

"Who are you?" he questioned, trying to keep from stuttering.

…

No reply…

"Why don't you answer?"

She took out a scroll which she had on her belt as well as she took out a brush. She opened the container at her side and dipped the brush in. Using her tongue she wettened the brush, leaving a slight tint on her lips.

'I'm mute, dumbass,' was written clears as day on the scroll now held up so that Hitsugaya could read it.

Hitsugaya's eyes widened, not so much at the message, but at the girl who was now starting to fall to the ground.

He caught her realizing she had passed out. The genius then picked her up bridle-style then something strange happened…

She turned back into Winter!

"Tōshirō," she mumbled…

Unohana quickly rushed in followed by her fukutaichou and some other 4th squad shinigami.

"What has happened here?" shrieked Isane as she peered into the mess.

"Hitsugaya-Taichou, did you come all the way from the 10th division for the hollow? It must have been pretty powerful to come in here, especially considering how far it got before being discovered," Unohana stated out until finally giving the young captain a chance to speak.

"Actually, I did come all the way from the 10th division, but I wasn't the first one here," he replied.

"Than who di-EEK!"

"What is it, Isane?" Unohana questioned.

"Hitsugaya-Taichou, please tell us why Hinamori-san is on the floor out cold and who you are holding," Isane managed to stammer out.

"She was attacked, and, well, her name is Winter Harue and she was the one wh- I mean, there was a strange girl that destroyed the hollow," Hitsugaya replied while thinking to himself, 'I don't think this should get out just yet. We don't know what could result from this, also, she either doesn't know or keeps it secret meanin-'

"Hitsugaya-Taichou," he was cut off by Unohana. "If you could follow me as we have someone take care of those two?" she said while motioning to a few of her squad members to pick the fukutaichou up from the hard wood floor and the young girl from Hitsugaya's arms.

As the two captains walked down the lonely hallway, they entered a small room in which there were two seats with a table and candles around the room that seemingly had never been lit.

"Hitsugaya-Taichou," Unohana began, "What exactly happened. Now I know you seem to want to protect someone, otherwise that sentence of yours from before wouldn't be so mangled up." She added after a pause, "These walls are soundproof and anything we talk about in here will be kept secret. Depending on what it is, the SouTaichou may never even hear about it."

Hitsugaya was somewhat shocked that Unohana may have kept secrets from the SouTaichou, but he didn't show it, besides, doctors need to be able to keep patient's information secret.

"Well," he began, "the girl named Winter Harue; she was the one that killed the hollow. But I'm not entirely sure how."

"How can you not be sure how, didn't you see it happen?" she replied.

"Yes, but she didn't look like Harue-san, you see, just as I stated before, it was a strange girl."

"In what way was she strange?"

"Well, she had half white and half blood red hair, same with her eyes. Also, she used two cloths in order to kill the hollow," he answered.

"Oh my, is there anything else?" she questioned.

"Well, after everything, she passed out so I caught her, but then she changed into Harue-san."

"Well, that's not too surprising," Unohana finally responded.

"How's it 'not too surprising'?" he asked shocked, of course without showing it.

"Well, my subordinate and I found Winter a few years ago. We found her in the snow with blood all around, her legs slashed open. When we got there the blood was steaming, meaning it was fresh. While checking her vitals, Isane said that for a second she looked like a different person. I wondered why I hadn't seen it, and then I did. Since she was alive, and somehow within the barrier, we gave her a real quick patch up then brought her to the hospital. She hadn't left the building, and had rarely left her room, until just a few hours earlier."

"So, she finally had a chance to go outside, and in the end was injured severely, unlife is just so forgiving huh?" Hitsugaya said sarcastically and to his surprise Unohana began to snigger, "Huh?"

"I never realized you could make a joke," she said in between her laughs.

Thinking about it, Hitsugaya was about to laugh but stopped himself, being that he thought it wasn't the right time to now that his childhood friend and Winter were in the hospital.

"Anyways, we actually don't know her real name," Unohana confessed.

"What do you mean? Isn't her name Winter Harue?"

"We gave her that name after finding her because it means winter and warm blessing… That is what it seemed like when we found her. The only reason she was alive was because of her blood melting the surrounding snow because of its warmth. Also, the blood is the reason we saw her," she explained.

"Shouldn't she have told you her real name?" he inquired.

"By the time she finally woke up, we asked her, but she told us, 'I may be alive, but that doesn't mean I'm not dead' and fell back asleep immediately. When she woke back up, we asked again and we also asked about what she had said earlier. In reply all we got was an, 'Ara? Where am I? I thought I was dead after that…' It seemed as though she wasn't talking about her legs though," She answered thoroughly, "Also, when she first woke up, here eyes were as you said, white and red…"

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FINISHED!!! I'm sorry it's so short, but I have something I need to do and should be doing now...read and review and bai bai!  



	6. Final goodbye

**To former faithful readers:**

I am sorry to say that I have lost interest in this fandom and will be discontinuing this story. I know I should have said this quite some time ago, but I always had thought I might go back to it, but now I have finally decided that I can't continue something I no longer feel inspired to write…

If anyone wishes to continue this story themselves, they have my permission to do so, even though I find it highly unlikely anyone will want to do so. If someone _does_ want to continue to write (or revamp) this story, however, I would appreciate a link that I can put up here to direct readers.

Thank you for reading this story in the past, and I'm sorry that I couldn't stick through to the end.

I hope you find many stories to appease your fandom appetites,

**Yue-Ryo**

_P.S. Recently I have been working on a story or two for BBC's Merlin. It's a fantastic show (even though it is not anime –shock-) I hope to post it here on fanfic if it turns out, but I will only do so after I have finished because of what happened with my failed attempts at posting chapter by chapter stories as I wrote. Wish me luck_


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